Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of physics lessons that are taught through mathematical modelling on conceptual understanding and operational achievements of prospective science teachers in one and two dimensional motions. Through a quasi-experimental design “operational achievement test” (OAT) and “conceptual understanding test” (CUT) aimed at measuring operational achievements and conceptual understandings of 23 prospective teachers in the experiment and 22 prospective teachers in the control group before and after the teaching were administered. The data obtained were subsequently analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results showed a statistically significant difference between experiment and control groups in terms of both operational achievement and conceptual understanding in favor of the experiment group.

Key words: One dimensional motion, two dimensional motion, mathematical modelling, operational achievement, conceptual understanding